goose

I've also heard that some people with house's in France are registering their cars in France despite being in the UK full time and thus avoid our road tax too.......of course there may be questions about the legality of that - eg I'm sure your French insurance cover will only cover 180 days over here - but with no border controls who can prove how long you've been in the UK this trip? A smart fraudster would pop over the channel on a cheap day trip and use his credit card in Auchan to provide an audit trail on French soil once a month...... or have I read too many crime novels?

Does anybody know if its possible to hire commercial vehicles like a small pickup in the Bealiue-sur-Dordogne region? (46) As usual, I've not managed to get my firewood delivered in time and am going to have to go and collect 4 cubic metres of wood myself. I will be in a hire car so won't have a towbar otherwise I would rent/borrow a trailer.

They is an all year campsite at Payrac, just a few miles south of Souillac, we stayed there last year. Very nice site it is too run by a young-ish Dutch couple with free form camping in amongst typical Quercy oaks and centrally heated shower block.

Wise words. Anyone who thinks that being married solve these problems needs to rethink things. In the UK, a house jointly owned by a couple as "tenants in common" (I think its called) which is the normal way, will pass to the surviving spouse free of inheritance tax. In France it doesn't, married or not. The various rules and suggestions are all too complicated and unmarried people buying in France really need to take legal advice. A quite look at the other forums though will tell you that even professional legal advice is always not consistent!  In essence, my understanding is that if you want to co-own a house, are married and have no kids, and want to avoid death duties when one partner dies then you need a CU. Anything more complex and you need a lawyer. Oh yeh, and don't forget that the French tax man will have your English property too if you should die whilst they deem you to be French resident. As Espresso just said, your UK will could well be irrelevant.    

Hmm, disinheriting the kids is a different issue and almost imposible in France I'm told. We don't have children so the CU was solely to mimic the situation we have in the UK where you own a house as "tenants in common" and therefore when one of you dies - as is inevitable - the other automatically gains the house without it going through the estate and therefore being subject to inheritance tax. In France the house normally passes to the children and they let mama carry on living in it so it doesn't catch them out as much as us. I don't know that a CU is neccessarily the best situation for people with kids, especially with one who is autistic. I'd be taking very careful legal advice if I were you. Our problems only arose because we thought the notaire was doing our "CU" and then on the day of exchange he simply said "no" and we were left sitting there with a wad of money opposite the couple selling the house and an intransigent notaire. The entente was a little less cordiale for a few minutes but we were stuffed and he knew it. Barsteward!

This problem arises from the use of a differing default situation.The French default is non-CU whilst the UK default is, effectively, CU. I had heard that there was a test case going through the European courts that basically said that a standard EU marriage should be recognised in a host country as its home equivalent and NOT as the host countries default. In other words, UK marriages should be recognised in France as CU because thats the intention in UK law. Anybody know what became of that? At least you guys are lucky that your notaire recognises this problem. Ours initially denied there was such a thing as CU until I showed him the french legal papers that I downloaded (thanks to somebody pasting the link on this forum yonks ago). He then subsequently refused to process our change without a letter from our Marie in England giving him dispensation. We tried repeatedly telling him we don't have anything quite like a French  Marie and our Mayor might sound a similar word but doesn't have anything to do with marriages but we were absolutely up against gallic pigheadedness. According to our immobilier he's being a pain in the harris to everybody and its not just Les Anglais that get messed about. Still, if he doesn't want our business we'll find somebody that does.....

Ah, the old "unlimited cover" chestnut. Check the details carefully, I have nationwide car insurance and I can tell you there is definitely a limit on the amount of time you can spend on each trip to France (90 days per trip) although the annual total might well be unlimited.

We just came back with Speedferries on their £25 deal. We were quite happy with the boat and the service. Our crossings both ways were punctual and loading was a doddle and very quick. No surcharges. I couldn't really see what others have found to criticise on the boat itself. Seats ok. toilets ok. Ok so not much in the way of food but coffee was hot and (unfortunately) english style but its only an hours crossing so I don't think we'll be going back to "the pirates".  

think in the region of 48% tax.........

....more than I'm led to believe there was "in days of yore" but still much, much better than in England. Go to a(ny) town centre on a saturday night at 11.15 in England and you'll see young louts throwing up and generally behaving badly. The French may have their social problems but at least thuggery isn't one of them. Yet.

Ha ha, good point. Also Hitler was a vegetarian. Of course he was a socialist, so what do you expect? [;)]  

you may find that your own bank will do it for a similar fee but without the headache of dealing with a third party. we set up an a/c with one of the specialist firms but in the end got better exchange rate (checked on 3 occassions) and a reasonable fee with barclays.

Yes all areas have 2 taxes but how they are applied seems to vary like so many things in France. Certainly the tax d'habitation in the Dordogne and the Lot (the two areas we looked in) was calculated differently with one being fixed based on the size of the property and one being based somehow on a formula that took ones own personal circumstances into account. When we bought we checked all the usual details with our immobilier and also the mairie who confirmed that a) the current tenants tax d'hab wasn't relevant as it is based on personal circumstances ie what we know as means testing or local income taxation and b) in any case no tax d'habitation was currently being charged because the house was currently a maison secondaire, owned by a Parisian. Whether this same generous discount will apply now that the new owners are English remains to be seen! As I said before, I don't mind paying both but I'm not rich enough to turn down a discount if its going!  I find the concept voiced on this thread that 2nd homers should pay more rather disturbing. It seems horribly remiscent of "old labour" and their motto of "if they're lucky (or hardworking) enough to have more money than me lets tax them more". In general we've received a very warm welcome from our neighbours and the staff of the mairie who all seemed pleased that the house has gone to "les anglais" who might tidy the place up a bit and maybe spend some money in the community as well. I don't think 2nd homers down our way are seen as quite the social lepers that they might be in some areas. Maybe the Lotoise are more used to tourists and understand the benefits of seasonal visitors?

re: LACS/Hunt Sabs. I'm sure you're right of course that the LACS wouldn't actually pay sabs themselves to go out or condone the violence because the LACS are a registered organisation with a central head office that could be prosecuted. However, the same could be said of Sinn Fein and the IRA but unless there's 2 Martin McGuiness' then the affiliation is quite clear! I wonder how many people who support the LACS have actually been to a fox hunt to observe what happens for themselves rather than watching one or other sides (clearly edited) propaganda videos?

...can you tell us what your wife does for 8 weeks a year that provides your total annual income? Sounds like my kind of job? Green with envy! [+o(]

We were told that tax fonciere (tax on owning the house) was always payable by the owner but tax d'habitation (tax on living there) was payable by the resident - who of course could be a different person. This is why they've managed to get your records seperated no doubt. We were also told that tax d'habitation is only payable if its a primary home.  There is of course many other threads with arguements about whether this is morally right or not but like yourself we're quite happy to get this "discount" (every penny helps) provided its correct and not just an omission. We checked with the mairie too to find out what the previous owner was paying but they seemed mystified by our request as the previous owner was a (parisian) 2nd homer and didn't pay tax habitation. This may be one of the important reason to ensure the mairie has you registgered as a maison secondaire of course.   To complicate matters it also seems to depend on your region/commune. 30kms down the road we got an entirely different view. I've also heard that the tax d'habitation is in some way means tested in some departments so hard up pensioners and the unemployed don't have to pay it. Being in our first year we don't really know which will turn out to be the truth! We watch the post with bated breath.  

They've just mailed out a grovelling apology about the fuel surcharge and promised never to do it again! I beleive the other ferrry companies also had a surcharge running. We're using them next week so, fingers crossed it'll be ok... They also have a new offer of 10 tickets for £190 or 36 hr return for £25. Is that the cheapest ever?

I think you'll find that the RIB also tells you the international code number for your bank account that you'll need for transferring money from the UK.

My immobilier is quite disgusted that he has to pay for what he considers to be pretty rubbish TV and declared to us that he just ticks a box on the form to opt out and then, presumably, returns the form with a cheque for just the two taxes. He suggested we do the same. (before anyone grumbles - no, I don't have a TV)

I know someone (a 12 year old girl) who had bleach sprayed in her horses face by one of our local hunt sabotuers. She wasn't even out with (and doesn't ride with) the hunt. Fortunately the horse suffered no lasting injury but I think we can rule out any kind of concern for animals welfare in their motives. I am interested to know what the crusties are going to do now fox hunting is banned in the UK? Having said that I was in Bath Saturday and the Bath Hunt Sab society are still rattling their collecting tins so presumably they're up to something. I know a guy who used to be a sab in his student days and he recalls it as being a nice day out in the country so they'll want something to replace it. Of course the LACS used to pay him and provide transport in an old transit. Perhaps they'll fly a few sabs down to Pau. I can't imagine a balaclava wearing unemployed crusty will mind too much whether its fox hunters or (in his eyes) "privileged" french second homers that he's whacking. ..and in case anyone is wondering, you can eat fox. Its not very nice, but then neither are brussels sprouts...

Goign back to the post that expressed concern that these certificates were freely available by post you might recall that this is exactly the process "the Jackal" used in Frederick Forsyths book to gain a false identity. Only recently one of the tabloid press repeated the trick and managed to get, ironically, Frederick Forsyths birth certificate and eventually credit cards in his name too. (with, I beleive, his permission to write an expose)

It seems that men either get no pain or lots of pain from this. no middle ground. Mine was dreadful, plums swollen up like melons for ages afterwards, much to my wife's amusement. Couldn't drive a car for a week! When I went back to check with all my so-called friends that had said it was easy it turns out all the pain-free ones were done privately and all the "bad" jobs done on the NHS. ho hum. We live and learn.

...I should add of course that, pleased though I'll be with a discount, I don't mind paying the full whack should my community ask for it but I can't see why 2nd homers should pay more. Either way, its still a substantially better deal than the daylight robbery of the community charge in the UK!!      

Oh dear. The "higher taxes for 2nd homers" arguement sounds very much like a combination of good old working class envy mixed with a bit nimby-ism "I've moved here but I want to stop others doing so". Shame. Like other posters, we've worked hard to scrape together enough money for a house in France but certainly aren't the load-sa-money character that some people imagine. Certain people would get on well with the chairman of Ryanair! So I'll remember that we're not contributing to the local economy when we go over for a month next week, visit the local shops and restaurants and call a plumber in etc.... Back to the original question though. In our region, second homes appear to only have 1 of the taxes applied. I cant remember which one but we checked what the taxes where when buying to find thatthe current owners (parisian 2nd homers) only pay the one. Whether that will alter as we are les anglais remains to be seen but so far the Mairie have been nothing but helpful and welcoming. 

We had exactly the same problem, you need an account to buy a house and you need a house to open an account, but in the end Banque Populaire accepted a letter from a campsite owner saying we were living there whilst we looked for a house. Subsequently we found out that Credit Agricole are often prepared to bend the rules that leave you in this chicken and egg situation providing you get your immobilier to vouch that you are actively looking for property. The man in charge at our local La Poste was very sympathetic to our plight and tried to help but sadly was overruled by his area manager.